Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-02-04
An Indian " POtlatch."


" Shoemaker Jim, an Indian o
Skagit river, made a "potlach" /
short time ago, ut which he gave way
$500, in money and property. O
course the Puget Soundcr needs nc
further explanation, but for the benefit
Of Eastern readers We give a travellers
description of this Indian jubilee:
The "potlach" is one of the most
curious ceremonies or customs the In.
dams have. The word potlach, among
the Indians, means to give, and the
ceremony called the potlatch is the
gathering of relatives and friends, at
which the one who made the potach
gives away everything he possesses
Money, cayuses, guns, canoes, blank
cts and all species of personal property
that goes by the comprehensive name,
ictas."
Various reasons are assigned for
this custom. One is, in the case of
sickness; when all their known reme-
dies have failed to eiie It cure, the
great spirit, S'Beow, must be appeased
by the sacrifice of every worldly attach
ment. This being done, Il physical
cure is effected or, in case of death, a
high place in the land of good Indians
is assured.
Another generally accepted reason
is OF more temporal and practical
nature. When an Indian has made
a big potlatch, distributing all his
property among the members OF his
tribe, the tribe is bound to take care
of him in his old age and treat him
with the respect due Il "tyee," or a
member OF their aristocracy.
The writer attended potlatch in
Snohomish county, given to appease
the great spirit S'Beow. An Indian
had been accumulating "ictas" for
great many years for the purpose of
making a potlatch when he should
get seriously i'll. After he had accum-
ulated several thousand dollars, his
friends thought he was sick enough to
make II potlatch and they finally
persuaded him that the anger of
S'Bcow was great enough to be APP
peased by distribution of his prop
erty. If generosity is the cure, selfish
ness must he the fault at which the
spirit, S'Bcow, is angry. Just why
they should be so selfish all their lives
as to make the great spirit angry and
then appease his anger by grand
stroke of generosity is slight incon-
sistency their philosophy does not stop
to explain.
Preparations were made for the pot
latch 10y gathering great quantities of
bark with which to make camp-fires; !;
and all the relatives and friends (tilla-
cums) We're notified to be ON hand.
The gathering proved to be veritable
camp meeting. The woods were liter
ally full of them. They came on cay
uses and in canoes until the shipping
moored at the river-bank would do
credit to Il primitive Liverpool. Fires
were kindled in the potlatch house, a
long, low building that would hold
two or three hundred people, and the
ceremonies began. The orators deliver
their harangues and the Indian doc
tors their incantations. The work of
distributing the property was then en-
tered into with zeal and prodigality
not TO be eXcelled. Hundreds of
blankets were given away; large sacks
of silver money were poured out and
divided in shares according to rank,
some Of it being sown broadcast, to be
scrambled after by the people. After
everything had been disposed of, in
cluding considerable quantity of
very bad whisky, the potlatch broke
up and the sick Indian was left to sur
vive or perish as it might happen.